The remains of a U.S. Air Force pilot who went missing during the Korean War will be returned to the United State soon for burial.

The U.S. Defense Department said in a statement Friday that the remains of Captain Troy Cope of Norfolk, Arkansas were recovered last year, with help from China and Russia, along with the wreckage of his aircraft near Dandong, China.

The 28-year-old-Cope went missing as he was flying an F-86 jet over the Yalu River on September 16, 1952, when he engaged six North Korean MiG-15s flown by Russians.

During archival research by analysts of the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office in 1999, documents about Cope's shoot-down were discovered in Russian archives in Podolsk. Also included were detailed reports on the ground search carried out by Russian and Chinese officials in Dandong where the crash site was located.

Excavation for Cope's remains began in May of last year by a team of specialists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command after Washington held talks with the Chinese government in 2003. The excavation team found aircraft debris and human remains, which were identified to be Cope’s in October.

The Pentagon said Cope's remains will be returned to his family for burial scheduled for May 31 in Plano, Texas, with full military honors.

Around 8,100 U.S. servicemen still remain as missing in action from the three-year-Korean War which broke out in 1950.